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In Court, 'a Widow' Recalls 'A Band Called the Beatles'

It seemed not to matter that her late husband was among the icons of the 20th century, a member of perhaps the most influential rock group of all time, or that she herself has unquestioned celebrity. Yoko Ono was still asked her name, occupation and connection to John Lennon in a civil trial that opened yesterday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Ms. Ono is suing her former personal assistant, Frederic Seaman, claiming he stole and sold family photographs and Mr. Lennon's mementos, including song lyrics and draft letters he scribbled to other musicians, including Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton.

Under questioning from her lawyer, Ms. Ono, 69, explained, ''I am a widow.'' Then she was asked to tell the jury what John Lennon did for a living. ''He was a member of a band called the Beatles,'' she said, adding that he was ''also a songwriter, singer and guitarist, publisher of two books of poetry, and he was a painter as well.''

Everyone in the mahogany-paneled courtroom, including the black-clad Ms. Ono herself, chuckled at the understatement of it all, while Sean Lennon sat in a front row, eyeing the court artist's rendering of his mother on the stand and taking notes -- at times as furiously as the many reporters.

For his part, Mr. Seaman, 49, contends that as a friend he took hundreds of photographs of the Lennons at play on vacation, around the dinner table at birthday parties or just doing nothing at all. He maintains that the pictures are his property to do with as he pleases, and that his friendship with Mr. Lennon that allowed the pictures had been betrayed.

''This case is about the underside of the music business you're not supposed to see,'' Mr. Seaman's lawyer, Glenn A. Wolther, told the eight-member jury in his opening statement. ''It's a far cry from the idealized lyrics of a song like 'Imagine,' where you imagine a world without property. In the music business, everything is property.''

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Ms. Ono, who was also at various times called Mrs. Lennon, Miss Ono Lennon or Miss Lennon, claims Mr. Seaman violated a confidentiality agreement and wants him to surrender the rights to 374 photographs he took of the family, as well as $75,000 from the sale of Mr. Lennon's manuscripts and letters.

''This case is about a family who trusted the wrong man,'' Ms. Ono's lawyer, Paul. V. LiCalsi, said in his opening statement.

This is not the first time Ms. Ono and Mr. Seaman have sparred in court. In 1983, Mr. Seaman pleaded guilty to second-degree larceny and received five years' probation for taking cartons of photographs and documents out of the Lennon apartments in the Dakota, the family's Upper West Side home. One condition for his probation was that everything would be returned.

Ms. Ono maintains that Mr. Seaman did not give everything back, and continued to profit from his crime over the years.

Mr. Seaman contends that the Lennon family wants control of the images he shot for their own monetary gain, and claims to know nothing of the letters and lyrics he is accused of selling. Ms. Ono's testimony is scheduled to continue today.